Hi, I'm Louise and I'm your TinyTalk teacher for South Leeds. I have a daughter, Caitlin, who is 3 years old.

I first took Caitlin to a baby signing class when she was 8 months old and we both loved it! The class was fun and friendly and the signs were a lot easier to remember - I used to go home each week singing the songs while practicing the signs.

Within a couple of weeks Caitlin had signed "milk" for the first time. This was quickly followed by "food." Other favourite signs included biscuit, cat, enough and hot. By the time of her 2nd birthday she knew approximately 120 signs, but her speech was also amazing, with a few hundred words in her vocabulary and forming full sentences. She has just turned 3 and people often comment on how well she speaks.

Signing gave her a means with which to tell us what she wanted or what she had seen. We could have conversations using just a handful of signs and it was amazing getting that glimpse into her mind at such a young age. It has definitely helped with her language acquisition, and also her self confidence.

As soon as I saw the benefits of signing I decided to run my own classes. I hope you decide to come along to a class and try it too - it really is amazing! And I love it when parents tell me their signing stories and I can see how happy they are to be able to communicate with their child. Not to mention seeing babies enjoying the classes and signing along with me during the songs.

The classes are an hour long. The first 30 minutes is spent singing lots of well-known songs while learning some signs, followed by 30 minutes of social time. Here you can sit, relax, chat and enjoy a cuppa (and a biscuit) while the babies play with some toys.

I look forward to seeing you at a class soon!

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